For the inaugural episode of the Retro Junk Podcast, F. Clint DeNisco and Ryan Goldsher spitball about the notorious 1967 Beach Boys album that never was — SMiLE.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of it’s intended release, SMiLE projected to be an even more inventive and avant-garde follow-up to the critically acclaimed Pet Sounds. However, due to a mental breakdown from bandleader Brian Wilson and personal disagreements within the group, SMiLe was shelved from being released in 1967. Some of the original SMiLE tracks eventually found their way onto subsequent Beach Boys’ studio and compilation albums. As more fans learned of the project’s origins, details of its recordings acquired considerable mystique, and it was later acknowledged as the most legendary unreleased album in the history of popular music.
Clint and Ryan describe the Beach Boys being the reason they became friends ([5:03]), then joyfully listen to each track on the album ([10:05]), then Clint exclaims SMiLE as the better album to Pet Sounds ([10:40]). Plus Ryan defends why Mike Love gets too much ridicule as the bad guy ([18:43]) and they hypothesize the possible comparisons Sgt. Pepper and SMiLE would have evoked over the years ([48:10]).